BCFC: Unity

As the foofaraw about the transfer embargo rumbles on into a second week, Blues fans seem to be divided between those who are confident it will be all over soon and those who think the embargo is the end of the world.

One thing that concerns me in all this is there doesn’t seem to be many people who are thinking about why this has happened and what it says about the club in the bigger picture.

I have to admit here and now that right now I can’t really listen to either camp for too long.

While I admire the optimism of those who think that the situation will be over quickly, based on my experience with Blues I think it’s a naïve opinion at best – and at worst it’s people burying their heads in the sand like many of the mob across the expressway are about their own dilemmas.

On the other hand, I look at the “woe is me” people and wonder if they can remember Blues of not too long ago. To hear people openly say they’d regret buying their season ticket if we sold certain players makes me wonder if they remember the Lee Clark years, let alone the Garry Pendrey ones.

The embargo is what it is – and it will get sorted at some point even if it takes unpopular decisions to do so.

However, the reason we fell into this situation is so much more important, because in essence it’s everything that is wrong with the club right now – and what will continue to be wrong after this summer finishes if it is not sorted out

I can imagine that some people already think this is going to be me railing at CEO Ren Xuandong again, and while I think his actions have not helped our current situation, I think it goes deeper than just him.

In my initial report I talked about a “toxic turf war” at St Andrew’s.

If I’m honest this turf war is not new. It’s been going on since around the time Gary Rowett was sacked – since December 2016.

The personnel on either side has changed slightly over time, but essentially the sides are the same – the old guard and the new pretenders.

The old guard are the staff who have the club in their bones; who have been there for a long time and who know the rulebooks inside out.

The new pretenders are the newcomers to the club – people who have different ideas about how the club should be run and who want to change things a little in an effort to embrace the future.

In any place where there are human beings, there will be politics and football clubs are no different.

When new people come into a situation and try to shake things up, those who have been there for a while will feel that their current positions are threatened and will be defensive.

The problem has been for Blues for too long that the new pretenders have come in with their own ideas and are not prepared to listen to those who have seen it before and understand why those ideas might not work.

However, it’s not only that. Those that have been at the club for a long time are so entrenched in their roles that the thought of change is now genuinely scary.

If Blues are to turn things around in the long-term there needs to be an end to this impasse.

It’s obvious that guys like Ren Xuandong are not going to go anywhere right now as they enjoy the confidence of the owners – and even if they did, they would potentially only be replaced by someone else with a similar set of ideas and principles to Ren.

Likewise, it’s obvious that the new guys need to listen to the experience of those who were there before them and take it on board.

I don’t want Blues to be in a situation as they were under Pannu with the owners and the chairman on one side and everyone else on the other.

I really don’t want to be in a situation personally where things are leaked for the sole purpose of making someone else look bad.

Because of that, I intentionally ensure I have at least two, if not three independent sources for all stories to try and prevent that.

In my previous pieces, I’ve mentioned that the BSH chairman Zhao Wenqing has called for unity.